Waiting Out the Storm NaNo WIP

I don't dream often. When I do my dreams almost mirror my reality, I can't tell that they're dreams. They feel as real as hazy memories lost in time, or a listless montage of a day that I couldn't care to focus in on. I wake up feeling as if I've lived an entire day when I've just woken up. It drags me down, making me feel exhausted even though I've just begun my day. I have to start my day. There's no option but to wake up eventually. 

This dream just felt like I was wandering around my house aimlessly. There was a sound, one that was too far away to be in my apartment but there was something in me that told me it had to be here, somewhere. I couldn't even tell what it was. It was so faint. I was stumbling. The familiar setting of my home suddenly felt unfamiliar and like it could swallow me up at any moment if I couldn't find this noise. I was ripping the entire apartment apart. Cushions were being thrown, chairs overturned, every door whipped open as if the noise would launch itself out at me. I couldn't find it. It wasn't here. My head turned in a frenzy and suddenly my apartment was empty. There was nothing. Even the walls were gone. There was just a floor for me to carry myself through, outside of that... darkness. 

The doors had stayed. My front door was different. Not that it looked different. But it feltdifferent. My hand wrapped around the colder than normal handle, and slowly twisted. There was nothing behind the door. I jumped back in anticipation of what could've been there. Tentatively, I tried to step out. As soon as my foot went to make contact with what should've been a floor I was sucked into the darkness. 

I was falling. Falling. Falling. It didn't seem as thrilling as Alice in Wonderland made it seem. It's not as if the air was passing around me. I didn't feel like I was falling really. But my apartment was getting further and farther away, so I must've been. That was the only explanation. Either that or I was floating and it was leaving. The sound seemed to be getting closer, but in the darkness there didn't seem to be a source. All I could do was move my head, my body stuck still in the space that had swallowed me whole. 

Where is that sound?

I felt a weight settle on my chest. Panic. There was a panic rising. My apartment was gone, I was stuck, and now there seemed to be no way out of this besides that sound that seemed to be getting louder and louder without a source, without a reason. There was panic, frustration. Then a haze that took over. A blissful, numbing haze. 

My eyes finally fluttered open. The weight was a literal weight, my cat who had decided to take a inconvenient residence during an unfortunate time in the dream. The distant sound was my phone alarm going off underneath my bed from being knocked off sometime in the night. Not so much an alarm for me, but for the dearest Potato that needed to be fed at the exact same time every morning. Seeing that I was finally up, he let out a mighty stinky breath yawn in my face before trotting to meet me in the kitchen. 

The haze that had overcome me at the end of an anomaly of a dream hadn't left. 

I needed to get out of bed before Potato returned with a wrath. A black constellation covered blanket that felt as heavy as the sky itself seemed to wrap tighter around my body, begging me to stay within its grasp of warmth. My arms felt weak against it, tugging it off slowly. My legs swung and found the floor. A nice comfort to have after the dream that plagued my thoughts. My hands ran over my face as if that would help clear me of myself, of my mind. I thought of turning off my phone, but I couldn't be bothered. My neighbors could complain if they wanted but they never did. 

It was a short walk across a bridge and some stairs to get to where the king of fluff demanded his food. I was only his humble servant, happy to oblige him in his needs. The content kitty wove through my legs as I walked. With my stride long and slow it was easy work to avoid stepping on any part of him, especially his tail that lingered and curled around my leg once I made it to his dining room. He had an easy meal to prepare. Some kibble mixed with whatever wet food I happened to grab from the cabinet in the kitchen. If only human food was that easy to prepare. I should eat something...

Instead my back slowly slid against the wall next to his food. My hand gently running along his back as he ate. Soft fur capturing my senses that were ever dulled. I could sleep here. Maybe a better dream would come along to rid my mind of the other. That sounded nice.

The lovely soundtrack of Potato eating his food lulled me back to sleep as I curled up on my cold floor. The sound of the alarm as distant as it was in the dream.